PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HIGHWAY WORK … Patrick McColley (second from right), deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Region 2, and staff members from left Kelsie Hoagland, public information officer, and Cathy Puntieri, assistant to the deputy director, shared information about current and upcoming ODOT highway projects scheduled for the Fulton County area at a recent meeting of the Archbold Rotary Club. The program was arranged by Rotarian Skip Leupp.
PRESS RELEASE – Roundabouts were a focus of Ohio Department of Transportation Region 2 deputy director Patrick McColley when he and his staff spoke at a recent Archbold Rotary meeting.
Safety is the main reason that ODOT favors roundabouts for intersections where serious injury and fatal accidents occur, McColley explained.
For example, roundabout intersections where traffic from all directions slows significantly but does not stop reduces fatalities and serious injury accidents by nearly 80 percent compared to intersections that have a traffic signal.
And, according to studies by the Federal Highway Administration, roundabouts reduce fatal and serious injury accidents by nearly 90 percent compared to intersections with a two-way stop.
Specifically, a roundabout project in District 2’s Seneca County several years ago at US 224 and State Route 587 reduced serious crashes from four a year to none after other less costly options had been tried.
District 2 includes eight northwest Ohio counties: Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, Williams and Wood.
McColley said that several roundabout projects in the Archbold area are planned over the next few years, including: State Route 34 and County Road 24 for 2027, State Route 2 and County Road 24 for 2028, and Route 6 and County Road 24 for 2029.
He also noted that ODOT has several current projects along US 24 in Defiance and Henry counties to remove at grade crossings to improve safety.
In some cases, right turn only access will be maintained off US 24, but vehicles will not be allowed to make left turns or cross all four lanes. Two overpasses will be constructed.
According to the deputy director, a study was recently released concerning the creation of a less congested route from northwest Ohio to Columbus than Route 23 through Delaware County. The options considered building a connector from US 23 to I-71; however, no decisions have been made.
McColley also noted that a plant in Archbold, Foundation Construction Automation, is producing rolled rebar reinforcing using a process called Bamtech that ODOT is using for bridge decks.
He explained that it is essentially a roll of rebar that a machine automatically cuts to length or feeds already-cut pieces, ties them together and creates a roll that is ready to roll into place – saving labor costs and completing the jobs faster.